Burning Bridges, Breaking Down Doors
by The Darkness Factor
Summary: Coming to Germany? Mistake. Thinking he could somehow convince the team to reunite? An even bigger one.


**A/N:** My personal favorite of the three that were just published... and HIGHLY influenced by the recent **Civil War spoilers** , so beware if you're on the lookout for those.

Prompt: "Bruce/Natasha + "Well, this is awkward"

I hope you guys like it!

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There are certain things Bruce likes to avoid. Explosions, fire, guns, fights. It's a mark of how horrible his day is that all of those things are happening right now. In this building. Surrounded by screaming civilians, smoke, and an occasional noise that sounds like one of Tony's repulsors.

He can feel the Hulk beating at his mental cage, clamoring to burst forth and contribute to the destruction. Not that there needs to be more; his teammates are doing a fine job of that without his help. It's sort of horrifying to Bruce; he's always known that the other Avengers are capable of committing as many horrors as he is, but he's never had to witness it before.

Bruce stumbles to a window that has had its glass shattered, in time to see the Maximoff girl whiz past, followed by Tony himself. He ducks beneath the sill as a beam of red energy narrowly misses his head.

Coming to Germany? Mistake. Thinking he could somehow convince the team to reunite? An even bigger one.

He has to leave before something (near-deadly injury) happens and he makes things worse.

Other people are scrambling to find shelter, but there are Avengers inside the building as well. He cowers slightly as Falcon zooms down the hall, followed by Vision. _Why fight here?_ he wonders desperately. _Why not somewhere without people screaming their heads off?_

He spies an intact staircase and runs for it, even going so far as to slide down the banister. The chaos is less pronounced underground, with only an occasional rumble overhead to indicate the fight. There's always a chance that the building could collapse, but Bruce is willing to risk that if it means he's out of the fighting.

The biggest irony might be that none of them know that he's there. Anything that happens is his fault.

He starts wandering through the basement, figuring he should find a room that's as far away from the commotion as possible. He's in the middle of a narrow hallway when one of the doors is suddenly broken down, and he's treated to the sight of Natasha elbowing Barton in the stomach, who wheezes.

She doesn't let up, either; she slams Barton into the wall, jamming one of her Widow's Bites into his sternum and activating them until he stops twitching. Only then does she release him, letting him slide to the floor. For a moment, the only sound is her labored breathing.

Bruce sneezes. Natasha whirls, gun (where did that come from?) already aimed in his direction, but she freezes when she recognizes him, her eyes betraying shock before she closes off.

Bruce can practically see the moment her walls slam down.

"Well, this is awkward," he says, unable to help himself. It then occurs to him that he just watched Natasha take down her best friend, and that hurts him more than expected.

Natasha doesn't reply. Instead, she reaches into her utility belt and pulls out a lock pick, effortlessly breaking through one of the other doors. It's just a small storage room, but it seems to fit Natasha's requirements; she drags Barton in, then breaks off the handle from the inside, and then the outside, once she's shut the door.

She continues to ignore him, something that he can't read on her face. Quietly, Bruce says, "You're keeping him away from the fight."

Natasha's eyes flicker to him briefly, then away. She starts to walk at a sedate pace, clearly waiting for him to catch up. Bruce can be patient, but even he finds that it's a relief when she finally says, "Right now he's safer down here than he is anywhere else."

Her voice sounds as though her voice box has been through a blender. There are cuts and bruises all over her. It seems that Barton gave as good as he got - but it wasn't enough against her.

Bruce can't stop himself. "This is insane," he says. "You know that, right?"

Natasha doesn't answer. He can tell that she's angry, though. Maybe even angrier than he is.

He follows her up a different flight of stairs, then shoves him and herself behind what appears to be a service desk. It quickly becomes apparent why; Wanda and Vision are at opposite ends of the room, staring each other down.

They're both crying.

Natasha looks at Bruce for a moment, then runs out to block Wanda's path to Vision. "Stark needs you right now," she says, her words clearly meant for Vision. "Get going."

Vision seems all too happy to fly away.

"You think you will make things better?" Wanda shouts through her tears. She starts shooting streaks of red towards Natasha, who dodges each one, albeit with some difficulty. "That your way is the one that will really keep someone like _me_ from destroying people?"

Oh. Oh, god. Bruce recognizes that self-loathing.

"They're going to use me!" Wanda shrieks. "They're going to make me do it again!" This time she uses her powers to catch Natasha by her wrists, hoisting her up into the air. Bruce can see what she's preparing to do before she does it, in the tightening of her mouth.

"Wait!" he calls, standing up.

Wanda freezes in much the same way Natasha did, but instead of bringing a weapon to bear on him she drops Natasha and flees.

He looks at Natasha, not sure what he's expecting to see, but she shakes her head at him. "We have to get you out of here," she says.

It finally hits him: that emotion in her face and voice that he wasn't able to read - she isn't just angry, she's mourning. She looks at her own hands for a moment.

All of the Avengers - every single one of them - are ripping their own hearts apart because of this. They're a group of self-destructive people trying not to pull others into this, but like a black hole, they can't seem to help it. He thinks about the look on Natasha's face after she knocked Clint out.

"I'm not leaving," Bruce hears himself say. "I can stop this. We have to stop this."

Natasha's look is disbelieving. "What makes you think any of us can?"

"I have to believe in something." He smiles weakly at her.

The last thing he wants to believe is that they're all as broken as he is.


End file.
